Fellowship From the Brother Above – July 15, 2025 (Part Eight)

Question 6: When an antichrist appears in the church, how should we, as leaders and workers, handle them wisely without bringing about misunderstandings among the brothers and sisters of smaller stature?

Answer: What kind of situation is it when this person says an antichrist has appeared? Is it someone walking the path of an antichrist, or a true antichrist? If it’s a true antichrist who has been revealed because they committed many evil deeds, then the way to handle them is to expose them directly. Take their problems and behaviors and dissect them for the brothers and sisters to see. Once everyone hears this, their eyes will be opened, and they will gain discernment and be able to reject them. Is this problem easy to solve? (Yes.) But what if this person is merely walking the path of an antichrist, and they’re just revealing some corruption or engaging in some wrong practices? If you fellowship on the truth with them and they can accept it, and if after pruning, trials, and refinement they can come to know their antichrist disposition, would you say such a person is salvageable? (Yes.) Then should a person who is salvageable still be handled as an antichrist? (No, they shouldn’t.) So, there are two possible scenarios here. The first is when someone is revealed as an antichrist for committing many evil deeds. Without a doubt, they must be thoroughly exposed. All of their manifestations must be exposed, and then the brothers and sisters in the church can vote to expel them. This is how a true antichrist should be handled. The other scenario is when a person is only walking the path of an antichrist and has done some things that are wrong, or even some minor evil deeds, but these are just transgressions and they have not truly committed many evil deeds. If we fellowship on the truth with them to help them and they are able to accept and repent, then it would be inappropriate to handle them as an antichrist. Additionally, there are some who do not pursue the truth and who walk the path of an antichrist. Although they may do some evil, they can also do some good and render some service. In this situation, leaders and workers should fellowship on the truth with them and guide them to know themselves to see if they can truly repent and get onto the right path. If you help them out of love, expose their problems, wrong practices, and wrong statements, but they just stubbornly persist in their ways and even use sophistry to try and justify themselves, then their problem is serious and they don’t accept the truth at all. Such a person has no understanding of the wrong things and evil deeds they have done and uses sophistry to try and justify themselves. However, if they have not yet reached the point of committing many evil deeds, then they might just be a false leader or a disbeliever and it is sufficient to just dismiss them. Is this a good way to handle the matter? (Yes.) After you dismiss them, you must fellowship with the brothers and sisters, saying, “They couldn’t do any actual work. No matter what they did, how they suffered, or what price they paid, they brought no edification to the life entry of God’s chosen people, nor did they benefit the gospel work. They even brought about damage and disruption. Such a person is not fit to be a leader or worker, so the only choice left was to dismiss them.” If such a person reaches the point of committing many evil deeds, then they have been revealed as an antichrist. You must fellowship with the brothers and sisters to help them gain discernment, and you must promptly handle and expel the antichrist. However, there may be a special case. If this person is knowledgeable, eloquent, and a skilled debater, then even if you see they have problems, after they’ve had their say, they’re capable of downplaying major issues and trivializing minor ones, making their problems seem like no big deal. The majority of people in the church may still be misled by them, thinking that what they say is right, that they have understanding, and that they understand the truth. When you want everyone to discern them, they won’t listen to you, and they’ll just blindly believe in and idolize this person. This kind of situation’s difficult to handle, isn’t it? (Yes.) This is the most difficult situation to handle. I’ve encountered such antichrists before. One of them had been working in a place for ten or twenty years, and most of the people there idolized and believed in them blindly, believing they could enter the kingdom by following them. They held a place in everyone’s hearts and were deeply and firmly entrenched. When I went to fellowship with the brothers and sisters, they wouldn’t listen to me, only to them. Do you think it was easy for me to solve this problem quickly? (No.) They were like a local bully. So what did I do? I went there and held gatherings for two to five days. I just kept fellowshipping on truths, like what it means to serve God, what it means to act with principles, what it means to practice the truth, what a false shepherd is, and so on. After fellowshipping on these truths, I then dissected this person’s manifestations—of course, without directly mentioning them by name. I only dissected their manifestations and what they did. After listening to my fellowship, everyone gained discernment regarding that person. They realized, “They’re an antichrist! We have to expose and reject them!” And just like that, the problem was solved. Now, could this problem have been solved with just one gathering? (No.) It takes at least two to three days of fellowship, and sometimes even five days or a week, to completely uproot such antichrists. Therefore, it’s not easy to resolve the issue of such antichrists who mislead and control churches for long stretches of time. Someone who understands the truth is needed to hold gatherings and fellowship on various aspects of the truth with the brothers and sisters in the church for a few days. Only then can everyone develop discernment of such people and ultimately reject these demons and Satans. This won’t be achieved without several days of gatherings, and it will be less effective especially without someone who understands the truth to do the fellowshipping. If you don’t have this kind of experiential knowledge, you need to find people to cooperate with you to uproot this poisonous root and cleanse away this antichrist. So, how do you cooperate? Don’t start by acting rashly. If you act rashly but can’t fellowship on the truth thoroughly, you won’t solve the problem. You must first find people who understand the truth so that you can dissect this antichrist along with them. Together, you must summarize all of the antichrist’s manifestations and find relevant words of God to gain discernment of them. Once you have prepared the content for fellowship, cooperate with these people who understand the truth in fellowshipping and dissecting during the gathering. This will make it easier to thoroughly dissect the antichrist’s ugly behavior. Once everyone understands, they will be able to reject this person. You must learn how to work this way. If you encounter an ordinary antichrist who hasn’t been working in that church for long, doesn’t have many connections, and isn’t particularly idolized, then this is an easy matter to resolve. The ones to worry about are gifted antichrists, like Paul, who can rattle off one spiritual theory after another and whom no one can out-argue, and whom everyone idolizes and blindly believes in. A matter involving this kind of antichrist is most difficult to resolve. If you don’t come together with people who understand the truth, you won’t be able to refute or deal with them. Do you understand? (Yes.) Is there any need to say more on this topic? (No.)

Question 7: Great disasters will befall us, and these are things we must face. How should believers face disasters? How should we experience God’s work amid disasters?

Answer: How we should face the great disasters is a very practical topic. Are we not in the period of the great catastrophes now? (Yes, we are.) The great catastrophes have already begun, and we don’t know when an even greater disaster will befall us, one that may even threaten the very survival of all humanity. Everyone has experienced extreme weather. It was exceptionally hot throughout Asia and Europe, with high temperatures as high as fifty degrees Celsius lasting for days on end. It was so hot in mainland China that eggs left indoors for two days would hatch. Wouldn’t you say this weather is hot? (Yes, it is.) There’s no knowing how many have died from the heat, but it must have been a lot. The disasters will only become more frequent and more severe. So, how is one to get through these disasters? Remember this: First, you must recognize that disasters are initiated by God. Can you be certain of this? (Yes.) If you cannot be certain of this, then you won’t be able to accept it when a disaster strikes, and you will complain about God. Disasters are initiated by God. So why does God initiate them? Everything God does is meaningful, has truth within it, and represents God’s disposition. God sends disasters primarily to achieve two kinds of results. Firstly, He does this to cleanse and save His chosen people. He uses disasters to refine His chosen people, allowing them to learn lessons from them and to recognize that His disposition is not only one of mercy and lovingkindness, but also of majesty and wrath. Once people have some knowledge of God’s righteous disposition, they develop God-fearing hearts. Amid disasters, they can submit to God without complaining, and even thank and praise Him. This is what it means to attain salvation. Secondly, disasters are for punishing and destroying those who resist God. These people constantly deny the truth and condemn God’s work. They are the objects of God’s condemnation and curses. When God sends disasters, He will destroy them one after another. So, tell me, is there meaning in God sending disasters? (Yes.) For those who resist God, disasters are punishment and destruction, and for those who believe in God and pursue the truth, they are tests and means of being made perfect. So how can one be made perfect amid disasters? This is something you cannot see through to. In disasters, God unleashes His wrath, majesty, judgment, and curses. These things are all part of His disposition. They are all part of His righteous disposition. So when God’s righteous disposition is expressed and revealed, how are you to face it? If you complain, resist, evade, or try to escape, are these the right ways to face disasters? Are these good manifestations? (No.) So, can you fear God, submit to God, and even praise God? You must be able to thank and praise God amid disasters. Only this is true fear of and submission to God. If you can thank and praise God when He blesses you, or when things happen that are in line with your notions and that you enjoy, this doesn’t mean you have true fear of or submission to God. But if you can still thank and praise God when disasters strike, bringing upon you suffering and torment, even to the point that you feel you’d be better off dead, only then does it show that you truly fear and submit to God. Some people say, “When a disaster strikes, there’s so much suffering, even to the point of near death. How can one still thank and praise God?” If you don’t know why you should thank and praise God when disasters strike, then when these things happen to you, you will surely complain against God in your heart. You will surely resist, and have notions and rebelliousness. You will definitely not submit or praise God’s righteousness. Is this not correct? (It is.) Look at Job. When calamity befell him, he said, “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). These words are so valuable. Job could see that it was Jehovah who gave. He didn’t say everything he had was obtained through his own intellect or labor. He wouldn’t say such things. But disbelievers do. They think, “I have as much wealth as I do because I earned it. I got it with my own two hands, my wisdom, and my intellect. It had nothing to do with God.” If a person thinks this way, they won’t be blessed by God because their view is the same as an atheist’s. They are a nonbeliever. Job, however, clearly recognized that “Absolutely everything I have was bestowed upon me by God. Although I put in some labor, I couldn’t have obtained as much as I did if God hadn’t bestowed it upon me.” He saw through to the fact that everything he had was not obtained through his own labor, but had been bestowed upon him by God. He would never at any point deny this fact. He had knowledge of God’s almightiness and sovereignty. This was one aspect of Job’s understanding. He had another aspect of understanding, which was that it is also God who takes away and reclaims. He believed that although it was robbers and bandits who took his property, this had been permitted by God. If God hadn’t permitted this, these robbers and bandits couldn’t have taken his property. This isn’t easy to recognize, but Job recognized it. Tell me, did Job have spiritual understanding? (Yes, he did.) The fact that he said what he did showed, at the very least, that he had spiritual understanding and also that he had knowledge of God. Through his seventy years of experience, he came to know God, which is the most important thing. Tell me, how many things must a person experience to be able to say the words, “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away”? How much understanding must be contained within that? Without knowledge of God, could a person say such a thing? (No.) Those aren’t words you can just learn to say out of nowhere! Job had gained some understanding of God’s work, of how God bestows and how He takes away, and only then could he say this. And what about when Job said, “blessed be the name of Jehovah”? What did he mean by this? He meant that no matter the circumstances, people should never complain about God, and instead they should bless and thank Him. You see, after believing in God for seventy years, when calamity struck, Job was able to say such things. This was the caliber he had. So, did his seventy years of believing in God bear any fruit? (Yes, they did.) If a disaster befell you, could you say the kinds of things Job said? It’d be hard to say, right? (Yes.) Well, could you say, “Disasters are initiated and orchestrated by God”? You might find it easy to say this, but if you were asked for the basis of this statement, could you give it? (No.) You must have a basis. People without the truth cannot see through things, and the words they speak are empty and have no basis. When you understand some truth and have some knowledge of God, you will be able to see through the matter of disasters, and your words will have a basis and be backed by practical understanding. When someone with the truth speaks, their viewpoint is clear, and their words show that they have knowledge of God.

So, how should we understand the words, “Disasters are initiated by God and under His control”? When a disaster strikes, is it up to you whether you will die or survive? (No.) What kind of person can survive disasters? Remember this: Only those who have gained the truth and can bear true testimony can survive disasters. If you haven’t gained the truth, you won’t be able to recognize that disasters are initiated and orchestrated by God, that corrupt mankind ought to accept God’s judgment and chastisement, or that without the truth, they are unworthy of living and should be destroyed by disasters. If you lack this understanding, then when a disaster befalls you, you will certainly be unable to submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements. You won’t be able to stand firm in this testimony of yours, and you might even complain about and resist God. In that case, you won’t be able to survive the disaster. Some people, when a disaster strikes, pray to God, saying, “Oh God, although I believe in You, I don’t know You. I don’t know if this disaster was initiated by You, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to survive. I just want to escape this disaster, I just don’t want to die. I beg You to let me survive.” You see, when people have no knowledge of God, they are unable to submit when disaster strikes. Can such a person survive? (No.) Others pray like this, “Oh, Almighty God, You are almighty, and everything is in Your hands. With just a single word, You can take this disaster away, making it so that no disaster will befall any who believe in You. I pray that You take this disaster away. I don’t want to die!” What do you think of such a prayer? (It’s not good. It’s not a prayer of submission, but an unreasonable demand.) Remember, when people face a life-or-death moment, their prayers to God must be offered with an attitude of submission. They should say, “Oh God, I’ve believed in You for so many years, but I don’t have any truth reality, nor have I borne any testimony for You. I feel pained and distressed in my heart, and I regret not having pursued the truth. I do not deserve to live. If this disaster is to destroy me, I will submit without complaint. If You allow me to survive, I will spend the rest of my days properly pursuing the truth and devotedly doing my duty to bear testimony for You.” What do you think of this prayer? (It’s good.) What’s good about it? (They are motivated by their desire to bear testimony for God, not by their own desires. They are also submitting.) The most crucial thing is that they are submitting and are able to face the disaster with the right attitude. What they mean is: “Oh God, if You have sent this disaster to take my life, then I am willing to submit. I haven’t pursued the truth properly, so if I die, it is what I deserve. I ought to receive this punishment. Even if I go to hell, I will still praise You, for You are righteous.” You see, this is profound submission. This is absolute submission. When God sees that they are truly submissive, the trial of this disaster will have achieved its intended result. God won’t let such a person die, and they will be spared. Some people, when they get cancer and are on the verge of death, pray to God, “Oh God, I have cancer, so I deserve to die! You have shown me kindness for so many years, and I have enjoyed so much of Your grace, yet I have not borne any testimony for You. I do not deserve to live. If You have preordained that I am to die now, I am willing to submit. I thank and praise You. This is Your righteousness. If You allow me to survive, I will also thank You. This, too, is Your righteousness.” What do you think of such a prayer? (It’s good. It’s a prayer of submission.) In this state of mind, there is no corrupt disposition, and none of their own will. Therefore, when disaster strikes, it is salvation for those who can accept the truth. If you can submit, you will have stood firm in your testimony, and you will be saved by God and thus survive. If you cannot submit, and when disaster strikes you pray, “Oh God, I don’t want to die, please don’t let me die! You are only my God if You take this disaster away, and if You don’t, then You are not God, and I will stop believing in You,” then this single prayer will doom you to lose God’s protection, and you will die in the disaster. Is this not so? (It is.) When disaster befalls people, do you think God knows? (Yes, because God scrutinizes all things and holds sovereignty over all things.) To say nothing of what happens to us humans, God even knows what happens to a single ant. That’s why He is called the Creator! The Creator’s power is truly great. Humans cannot measure it. Tell me, can humans use their intelligence to count how many stars there are in the sky? (No.) What about how many grains of sand there are on the earth? (No.) Can the computers invented and built by mankind calculate these things? (No.) But God knows it all. He has it all in His grasp. God knows what happens in any place on any given day, He knows what changes will occur in any place, and He knows even better what disasters strike a specific place and how many people die. Some might ask, “Can He really?” He absolutely can! It’s not just a matter of “can”—He is supremely capable. The Creator has this power. The heavens and earth and all things were made by Him, so it is incredibly easy for Him to have mastery over it all. The Creator’s wisdom and power are truly great. They can never be fathomed by man or put into words! Do you understand this? (Yes.) Tell me, can man use science to weigh the earth? (No.) Man cannot use science to calculate this, but God knows it. God knows the weight of the earth’s water, its mountains, and its land. He knows what is inside the earth, as well as what creatures exist and whether there are humans in each layer. It’s said that the earth is “three parts mountain, six parts water, and one part field.” But how can so much water, mountain, and land combine into a sphere without scattering? How much gravity must the earth have to keep its water from dispersing? Can science explain that? (No.) No, it cannot. This is the wondrous work of the Creator. So tell me, how great must the Creator’s power be, and how profound His wisdom, for Him to be able to create and hold sovereignty over all things? Does humanity have the right words to describe this? (No.) God’s power cannot be described in human language. God is omniscient. The things a person will experience and where they will experience them, how much their body can endure, and whether they will live or die when disaster strikes are all in God’s hands, down to the finest detail. Can you see God’s authority in His prophecies? Prophecy is a marvelous thing. Prophecies originate from God, and whether they are spoken by famous prophets or by God Himself, they all come from God. You see, before the creation of the world, God prophesied that at the end of the world, a new heaven and a new earth would appear, and that God’s kingdom would appear. This was predestined by God long ago, and now it is about to come to pass. God has prophesied many great events that will happen in the time between the beginning and the end of the world, and also in eternity. The events that are to occur and all the people who are to appear in every stage of human history have all been arranged by God. People can never fully comprehend these matters, nor can they express them in even the most precise language.

So, how should we face disasters when they strike? First, we must thank God. You should say, “It is so beneficial for us that this disaster has come. We deserve to suffer and be punished. I am willing to accept the truth. No matter how God refines me or what suffering He makes me endure, I will submit to Him and praise Him.” Additionally, we must continue to bear testimony for God amid the disasters and must not impede our performance of duty. If you bear no testimony and do not do your duty, your claim that you have not rebelled against God doesn’t hold water. In fact, not doing your duty is the greatest rebellion. So, how should we approach disasters? Remember this: If one day you find yourself in a disaster and on the verge of death, what should you do? Are you willing to die? No one is willing to die. But if a disaster strikes and God wants you to die, are you willing to submit? (Yes.) Therefore, you must not have a will of your own when it comes to death. You must have the right attitude, which is to submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements. You should say, “If God wants me to die now, then I will thank Him and die. If God wants me to die later, I will also thank Him, and I will continue to bear testimony for Him and fulfill my duty.” You must never act according to your own will. The more unwilling you are to die, the more it shows that you lack submission. Regardless of whether or not you ultimately die, the fact that you lack submission means your attitude is wrong. At the moment of death, whether a person has true submission to God is fully revealed. Do you understand this? (Yes.) Tell me, what is my attitude toward death? (You let God orchestrate everything.) I once wrote a song, the general meaning of which was, “If I have completed what God has commissioned me to do, then any way of dying is fine. I have no demands.” What does this mean? It means that as long as my work is done, my wish will have been fulfilled, and at that point, any way of dying will be fine. It’s fine if the CCP shoots me dead, and it’s fine if I die of illness. If I could be martyred for God, that would be even better. But if I were to die before I finished my work, I would think it a pity, and I would feel indebted to God. As long as what God has commissioned me to do is not yet complete, I would rather not die. Until the day my work is finished, any way of dying is fine. This is my attitude. What do you think of this attitude? (It’s good.) When you see the matter of death clearly, it is not frightening. Rebelling against God and betraying God—that is what’s truly frightening. If a person does something to betray God, they face dire consequences. This stain can never be washed away. It is a permanent stain. Look at David. He committed adultery; was he punished for it? (Yes.) His punishment was also heavy, and the sword would never depart from his house. That single sin of adultery was a stain. People today who walk the path of pursuing the truth must not have such stains or transgressions, and must absolutely not betray God. This is of the utmost importance! For anyone, having a stain, transgressing, or betraying God will lead to lifelong regret and eternal suffering. This is no laughing matter. Do you understand? (Yes.) And why is this no laughing matter? Remember, God’s disposition is righteous and holy and it does not allow for the existence of filth or betrayal. Betrayal is the greatest stain a person can leave upon their life. If you betray God, your outcome will be destruction. People can still be saved if they commit other transgressions, but for anyone who has the transgressions of blaspheming against God and betraying God, there is no salvation. Once you have betrayed God, even if you come back, it’s no use. There will be no salvation for you! It is of the utmost importance that you see through to this. Tell me, once you see these things clearly, is the issue of how to face disaster easy to resolve? (Yes, it is.) When disaster strikes, the problem that most needs to be resolved is that of rebelling against God and being unable to submit. No matter what, we must submit to God. Whether we live or die, we must submit to God. A person’s life is of no value. A person is just a soul. To be precise, before God, a person is just a pitiful soul, and is of no value. So, do not regard your life as all that precious or important. If God wants to take your life, you should submit to Him. If God sees that you can still do things and doesn’t take your life, then you should render some service for Him. This is a rare opportunity and an exaltation from God. Submitting to God is the unshirkable responsibility of a created being. Submitting to God is a glorious and most wonderful thing! If a person rebels against God, it is shameful and tragic! Therefore, in your duty, no matter how great the difficulties, you must seek the truth to resolve them. You must stand firm and not collapse, and you must not be negative or impede your duty. You must be loyal to God. Loyalty to God comes above all else. Things like family, money, the flesh, and children are all external things. Only loyalty to God and fear of God are most crucial. These are the things a person should uphold throughout their life. So, is the issue of how to face disaster easily resolved? (Yes, it is.) Remember, disasters originate from God. They are arranged by the Creator. We must submit to and never rebel against everything that comes from the Creator!

All the questions have been answered. Let’s conclude today’s gathering here. What do you think? (Alright. Goodbye, brother!)